DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



and other parts, lung capacity, tempera- 

 ment, strength, vigor, action, ability to 

 transmit desirable qualities to offspring, 

 and so on through the list of the many 

 thousand points which have been at- 

 tained by breeding. 



The great strides already made along 

 this line have not been accomplished by 

 accident or by luck, but by working with 

 a definite purpose in mind; not by leaps 

 and jumps, but slowly through patient 

 toil and after numerous failures. To the 

 originator of a new, useful breed of ani- 

 mal the world owes as much as to the 

 inventor of the most useful mechanical 

 device. These men, however, are little 

 known and little appreciated. All school 

 children are taught who invented the tel- 

 ephone, telegraph, steam engine, loco- 

 motive, etc. How many of our readers 

 know the names of the men who contrib- 

 uted to the origination and substantial 

 improvement of Shorthorn, Hereford, 

 Angus, Holstein, or Jersey cattle; mod- 

 ern types of horses, mules, zebroids; 

 Berkshire, Victoria, Duroc-Jersey, York- 

 shire, or Tamworth hogs; Rambouillet, 

 Southdown, Dorset, Suffolk, Lincoln, 

 Cotswold or Cheviot sheep; Wyandotte, 

 Dorking, Plymouth Rock, Orpington, 

 Minorca, Brahma or Houdan chickens; 

 and so on through the almost endless list 

 of distinct and valuable hreeds of farm 

 animals and fowls. 



These improved breeds have contrib- 

 uted untold wealth, comfort and enjoy- 

 ment to the human race. In order to 

 appreciate this point more fully compare 

 the modern Berkshire hog and the "razor- 

 back," the Shorthorn and the Texas 

 steer, the broncho and the thoroughbred, 

 the common goat and the Angora, the 

 tough, unimproved fowl and the Wyan- 

 dotte. Breeders have made improvement 

 in every direction — in the quality and 

 flavor of the meat, in the value of the 

 wool and mohair, in the size of the ani- 

 mal, in speed, strength and endurance of 

 the horse, in docility, fertility and the 

 power to utilize feed stuffs economically. 



This sounds formidable enough on 

 paper and in practice it is more difficult 

 than it sounds. There is the constant 

 struggle to prevent undesirable charac- 

 ters from cropping out in your farm ani- 

 mals. The process of improving animals 

 is in one sense unnatural or somewhat 

 against nature. Certain natural tenden- 

 cies have to be overcome, others greatly 

 developed. The sheep's coat is a protec- 

 tion and a great comfort in winter. By 

 careful selection, however, we have so 



increased the weight of the fleece that in 

 warm weather it is a positive burden to 

 the sheep and must be removed once or 

 twice per year. Without man's inter- 

 vention nature would gradually reduce 

 the amount of wool. 



Another example of this sort is seen in 

 milch cows. Native cattle have small 

 milk glands and produce a quantity of 

 milk barely sufficient to nourish the calf 

 for the first two months of its life. We 

 have increased the size of the gland and 

 the milk yield enormously until good 

 dairy cows yield 6,500 to 30,000 pounds 

 of milk per year. This is, again, an un- 

 natural i^erformance and can be main- 

 tained only by rigid selection. 



In the hog, in turn, we have taken 

 advantage of the tendency to lay on fat 

 and have developed it to such an extent 

 that the hog has become a living fat 

 factory. 



Similarly through the list of breeding 

 achievements we have exaggerated cer- 

 tain tendencies and suppressed others un- 

 til the breeder must be constantly on the 

 alert to maintain the high standard in 

 his stock. Under natural, wild condi- 

 tions there is no occasion for the produc- 

 tion of a ten-pound fleece, a 30,000-pound 

 milk yield or 200 pounds of fat and, if 

 left to themselves, such animals would 

 soon return to the normal, wild condition. 



The animals themselves take no 

 conscious part in the improvement of 

 breeds. In fact from their standpoint 

 what we call improvements may not be 

 improvements at all. Animals can cer- 

 tainly derive no advantage to themselves 

 from becoming so fat that they cannot 

 walk without danger of crushing the 

 bones of the leg, from producing a fleece 

 too hot and heavy for comfort or from 

 producing three times as much milk as 

 is needed for their offspring. These con- 

 ditions must be brought about by man 

 without help from the animals, for our 

 farm stock can hardly be expected to take 

 interest in a process which tends in some 

 respects toward their discomfort. 



The unconscioiis forces of nature also 

 operate against us because we make our 

 animals do or produce more than would 

 be necessary in a state of nature. In the 

 natural laziness of things there is great 

 inertia against doing any unnecessary 

 work. Enormous milk yields and in- 

 creased production of other animal sub- 

 stances constitute a more or less serious 

 drain on the strength of the animal. 

 Their health is liable to be affected and 

 special diseases arise. 



